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There will be an outcry, though. Sure the right-wing churches who have sided with the TEA Party and are generally reactionary will scream bloody ... but so will a lot of churches that HAVEN'T been politically active. They'll wonder why they're being grouped in with the loudmouths out there and wonder why they have to pay for sins they haven't committed. Certainly, some of these churches, especially the smaller ones, might buckle under such a financial load.

Which is why I still think that the IRS needs to focus on those who HAVE chosen to be politically active, have participated in Freedom Pulpit Sunday, and have actively scorned the concept of church / state separation. Such churches should be singled out, stripped of their tax-exempt status, then HAMMERED and hammered HARD. Make a public example of such scofflaws and it's just possible that others might think twice before taking similar action.

honestly Loren, i think this would be opposed by partisans on both sides of the aisle. marijuana legislation would have better footing than this would. too bad, it's a great idea. and we could use the money :)

Matt Yglesias raised a few eyebrows this week, arguing that it's time to treat houses of worship like every other tax-eligible entity, which in turn raised a related question: just how much money is at stake?

When people donate to religious groups, it's tax-deductible. Churches don't pay property taxes on their land or buildings. When they buy stuff, they don't pay sales taxes. When they sell stuff at a profit, they don't pay capital gains tax. If they spend less than they take in, they don't pay corporate income taxes. Priests, ministers, rabbis and the like get "parsonage exemptions" that let them deduct mortgage payments, rent and other living expenses when they're doing their income taxes. They also are the only group allowed to opt out of Social Security taxes (and benefits).

So, how much money are we talking about here? The University of Tampa research puts the total at $71 billion, which is obviously an enormous chunk of change. Note, however, that it's on the low end of possible estimates -- as Matthews explained, the figure doesn't include local income and property tax exemptions, or charitable deductions worth additional tens of billions of dollars.